Catatonic

I can go all day resisting the urge to urinate
I can successfully ignore a thirst for water
For warmth and for comfort
For touch and smell and taste.
I can suppress guilt at procrastination.

I give in when my bowels shake
I give in when I fear dehydration;
Fear pain and loss,
Suspicion and dependency,
My guilt has no power,
but I am powerless to control it.

Childlike

When water spills on the floor,
I stare at it spread wonderfully across the hardwood
and wish I could swim.
It's not a symbolic gesture.
Where would I go? How would that help?
It's just what I want to do.

Late at night,
overwhelmed by television,
I feel an urge to stand on my head
with no meaning or reason behind it.
Why would I? What's the gain ?
It's just what I want to do for some reason

I realized today, in the sun,
That I have not seen my couch;
its fibers, the will and way it was created.
It's a couch though. Who cares, right?
The looking feels long overdue,
and it's what I want.

Sweeping

When we were younger
There was mucb we could not control
Except our house

we
Were based solely
on our separate incomes

Now our house is impeccable
always waiting on a buyer
Always on show

Our power is still contained
By the needs and wants of others
As we grow old